Council chiefs are set to pull permission to mine sand a gravel from a quarry site in South Derbyshire after the discovery of ancient monuments there.

Derbyshire County Council is set to retract approval to quarry 2.2 million tonnes of sand and gravel near Willington due to the discovery of the 5,000-year-old 'cursus', which are some of the oldest structures in the UK.

A cursus is a large, sometimes colossal, long earth ditches and trenches - created by hand neolithic man. They are shaped similar to a stretched athletics track, historians have said.

Some examples of Cursus' found elsewhere in the UK are ones that are 46 metres long, but others cover almost six miles. More than 50 have been found across the UK - largely via aerial photography, including one found at Stonehenge.

The cursus lies underground near the former Willington Power Station (Image: Google Maps)

Many others are believed to have been obliterated over the years by farming and other landscaping activities.

Now a cursus has been unearthed at the quarry near Potlocks House Farm in Twyford Road, Willington. It is below ground and not visible from the surface.

Hanson Aggregates was given permission to mine the site in 1995 and extracted 400 tonnes of sand and gravel up until 2010. Although no work has taken place since then, it still has permission to mine there.

But after the find, the county council, which is the minerals authority, wants to retract permission for quarrying, which Hansons bosses say they are happy with as they will now be switching quarrying operations to a site it operates in Shardlow, also in South Derbyshire.

The Willington cursus spans the site off Twyford Road and continues to the west into the adjacent former Willington Power Station site.

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Cursus are thought to follow astronomical alignments, and may have been used as 'proving' grounds for young men as they prepare for adulthood - the most commonly held belief is that they were used for ceremonial competitions for young men as they proved they were worthy of becoming men.

The Neolithic period, in which cursuses were built, dates back 12,000 years to 10,200BC, but structures found so far tend to date around 3400BC to 3000BC.

No quarrying operations have taken place on the Willington site since November 2010.

In a report to Derbyshire councillors, which will be debated on Monday, March 5, council officers said the cursus was "nationally significant".

Cursuses are some of the oldest prehistoric monumental structures in the UK (Image: Google Maps)

They wrote: "In this case, any further development at the site would be likely to damage or destroy the nationally significant cursus.

"In this instance, making the Revocation Order to extinguish the permission is also considered an appropriate course of action as it would provide the public with total certainty of the mineral planning authority’s commitment to ensuring the protection of the cursus."

Speaking to the Burton Mail a county council spokesman said that the "ancient earthwork" was all underground and not visible from the surface.

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He said: "Hanson, the operator, has agreed to the revocation in light of the archaeological sensitivity of the site, which has a nationally significant cursus, or ancient earthwork, underground. No quarrying has taken place at the site since 2010."

When the permission was granted to Hanson Aggregates, based in Walton Lane, Barton, it entered a legal agreement with the county council agreeing that it could have its approval taken away without compensation as long as another quarrying site in Derbyshire was made available to it.

The Stonehenge Cursus is 1.9 miles long and between 100 metres and 150 metres wide and dates to between 3630BC and 3375BC

In September 2014 the county council had agreed an extension to gravel and sand quarrying at Shardlow Quarry in Acre Lane - the Weston extension - which is already run by Hanson, which Hanson's is happy with.

Cllr Martyn Ford is the deputy leader of South Derbyshire District Council and represents the Willington and Findern Ward, he is also a Derbyshire county councillor and sits on the planning committee which will debate the plans.

He said that the discovery has been known for some time but was pleased that the issue may finally be put to bed, heralding it as "great news".

Cllr Ford said: "I think it is great that such an important historic find may be protected for good. It is great for everyone involved and I am pleased that the county council is doing this.

"I feel that a find of such importance should be preserved."

Councillor Martyn Ford, deputy leader of South Derbyshire District Council and Derbyshire county councillor

A spokesman for Hanson Aggregates UK said that this meeting is "simply concluding matters long since agreed".

He said: "There are two legal agreements dating back to 2010 and 2013 between Hanson and Derbyshire County Council which provide for the Potlocks Farm planning permission to be revoked if equivalent tonnage is permitted for Hanson elsewhere in the County.